Yadkin Valley Wine Tour: Day 2

Day two consisted of an actual bus tour as arranged through Yadkin Valley Wine Tours. This was an interesting experience and I would highly recommend it, especially for anyone that has never done wine tours before. They handle everything including lunch, fees for tastings, and transportation. We only had a couple of little glitches, the first being that it turns out that there were so many people on the tour from Raleigh that they actually arranged for a bus to come from Raleigh. Had we known, we could have ridden along, too but were okay with having driven up the day before since we had made plans for a multi-day visit to the area. The other glitch was that due to the size of the tour group they had to change which wineries we were visiting because some on the original schedule could not accommodate a group of our size. So even though I had picked the tour based on it taking us to wineries we had never been to before we ended up visiting one place we had been to multiple times before and they reduced the tour from four stops to three. That was a bit disappointing but we still managed to have a great time.

A wine tour on a bus quickly becomes a party and you have to be extra careful not to drink too much too soon since you are not worrying about driving. One downside of a large tour group is that they sometimes pick the wines you try and you will not get to taste more than the number that they have arranged for you to taste.

First stop was West Bend in Lewisville, NC. Having been there before, we were not huge fans of their wines but it did give us a chance to see how the wines had developed since our last visit. We were pleased to find that they have greatly improved and we managed to find a very decent Cabernet Sauvignon of which we bought a bottle to have with our lunch. The tour group had arranged for a tour of the winery which we opted not to take since we had been on it before and instead we sat with the organizer and enjoyed our bottle of wine. The grounds are very nice and they have a covered picnic area. We did have one more little glitch during this visit in that someone took my lunch! Apparently the other Vicky in the group didn’t pay attention to what she had ordered and by the time we had purchased our bottle of wine she was well into my sandwich (and never would admit to having made the mistake!). Thankfully, what she had ordered was agreeable to my palate so I adapted to this unplanned switch without too much grumbling.

• Chardonnay (no oak) – crisp but heavy metallic flavor
• First in Flight (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling) - really light, somewhat sweet
• Merlot – rated as their best year ever, good
• Chambourcin – nice pepper, spicy but Brad thought tasted too much like cloves
• Riesling – very nice, good summer drink

After the official tasting, we tried their Cabernet Sauvignon and Reserve Cabernet at their bar where you can buy wine by the glass. The Reserve was very nice but too expensive (they did not take AMEX and we were low on cash) so we ended up with a bottle of the regular Cabernet.



West Bend is an older NC Winery - note the size of this vine



  

Next stop was Grassy Creek in State Road, NC, which is one we had not been to before. This place had a beautiful tasting room and had put out various snacks to have along with the tasting. And while they limited our tasting in terms of number of wines we could try they did let us individually pick the wines we wanted to taste. The wines overall were better than the very young wines we tasted on Day 1 but not as good as West Bend, except for the Cabernet Sauvignon. We bought a bottle of that Cabernet to enjoy out on their little patio and sat with a few folks from our tour (not much of an outdoor area versus some other locations but quite acceptable for a small group - they do have larger gathering areas for events like weddings). This location is one of the few that does not give you the glass as part of the tasting fee.

• Sauvignon Blanc – crisp, very light, grassy
• Red Barn Blend (Merlot, Syrah, Sangiovese) – very good, peppery, medium body
• Barbera – light, interesting, currant flavors
• Cabernet Sauvignon – very nice, light body, flavors of plum and blackberry, and we liked enough to request a second taste of it versus picking a 5th choice.

Final stop was Shelton in Dobson, NC. This was our first time there and it was one I had wanted to visit for years. We were a tad disappointed as it a large commercial place set up to do large groups so it lacks the more personal feel. I prefer smaller places where you are talking with someone who is intimate with the process versus a part-timer in a large staff that has just enough training to pour the wines. But my dislike could have been due to the fact that we were rushed as our group was running late and we did not have time to purchase additional tastes of the wines of our choice which I would have liked to have done. I will go back and give them another visit to be able to enjoy the experience better. And I do not want my review to keep others from checking them out.  They are a good winery and everyone should visit to get a feel for the difference between larger commercial style locations versus smaller locations.  They do have massively gorgeous grounds.

• Chardonnay – okay, some oak, vanilla
• Sauvignon Blanc – too tart, very metallic, strong grapefruit
• Syrah – did not like, too light
• Cabernet Sauvignon – good fruit, nice finish
• Yadkin Valley Riesling – very fruity and floral 

We did, without trying, buy a bottle of Madison Lee Red (60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc) which was a good everyday table wine.



Busy tasting room at Shelton